RF Interview Questions and Answers

10 RF interview questions and answers
This page covers RF questionnaire set prepared by experienced specialists in RF domain. This
domain has always demand right from design,testing and installation. Now-a-days RF firmware
jobs are also available which requires knowledge of both baseband and RF technologies. These
top 10 RF interview questions and answers help engineers seeking RF job to crack the
interview with ease.These questions are very useful as viva questions also.
This questionnaire will help one pass the interview for various RF positions such as RF test
engineer, RF Design Engineer, RF system Engineer, RF lead etc.
Question -1:What is the Return loss and VSWR? How are they related, pls. explain?
Answer -1: Both return loss and VSWR is used as a measure of reflection of E-M waves over
coaxial cable or RF cable or microstrip line. It gives how much power is reflected and how much
power is absorbed at various points specially at terminating and source points and at places of
impedance discontinuities. Return Loss in a coaxial cable having Z0 as characteristic impedance
and ZL as terminating or load impedance can be expressed as follows:
Return Loss (dB) = 20*Log10((ZL-Z0)/(ZL+Z0))
Where Z0= (L/C)0.5
Both Return loss and VSWR are related as mentioned in the following expression.
Return loss = 20 log ((VSWR+1) / (VSWR-1))
VSWR ranges from 1 to infinity.
Read more
Question -2: What is 1dB compression point and 3rd order intercept point? What is the relation
between both?
Answer -2: Both 1dB compression and 3rd order intercept points are used as performance
measure of RF amplifier, RF mixer etc. It provides the limit of linear region and point from
where device will move to saturation or nonlinear region.
Power output of RF device should vary according to the input power linearly. The point from
when power output does not vary linearly with the input device that point is referred as saturation
or compression point. At this place 2 dB changes in the input power results in only 1dB change
in the output power.
Let us understand 3rd order intercept point with example of two frequency signals f1 and f2 fed
as input to the RF amplifier within the bandwidth limit of amplifier. Normally it should produce
amplified f1 and f2 signals but due to distortion in an amplifier it produces harmonics at other
frequencies. The second order products include f1-f2 and f1+f2. The third order products include
2f1 +/- f2 and 2f2 +/- f1. The most troublesome components are 2f1-f2 and 2f2-f1, which falls
within the amplifier bandwidth and level of which is referred as 3rd order intercept point.
3rd order intercept point (TOI) is usually 10dB higher than the 1dB compression point.
Refer P1dB versus TOI to know more about the difference between both.
Question -3: Why is the isolator placed at the output of the amplifier?
Answer -3: RF Isolator allows signal to flow only in one direction and hence prevent any
reflection going into the amplifier from output port. Hence it prevents damage to the amplifier
device, read more.
Question -4:What is carrier to interference ratio(C/I) and how it is related to SNR?
Answer -4: C/I refer to ratio of carrier power to the interference power. SNR refer to ratio of
signal power to the noise power. C/I apply to modulated waveform while SNR applies to the
unmodulated waveform, read more.
Question -5: What is G/T of the antenna?

Answer -5: G/T is referred as figure of merit of the RF antenna. G stands for Antenna gain and T
stands for Antenna noise temperature. Refer satellite terminology page to know more about
figure of merit of antenna. This is most often asked in the interview for satellite group position.
Question -6: Explain difference between RF circulator and isolator.

Answer -6: RF circulator is a 3 port device and isolator is a 2 port device. Both allow signal to
flow in any one direction and prevents signal going into the other direction as per design. RF
circulator being having 3 ports, there are two main types clockwise and anticlockwise. If ports
are say P1, P2 and P3 then isolator can pass signal from P1 to P2, P2 to P3 and from P3 to P1
and not in other direction if designed so otherwise it will pass signal from P3 to P2 and P2 to P1
and from P1 to P3. Refer RF isolator vs RF circulator page.
Question -7: Explain the transmission mode for EM waves in microstrip line. Also explain types
of microstrip line.
Answer -7: Quasi TEM mode is used in a microstrip line. In a normal TEM mode, E-field and H-
field are perpendicular to each other and also perpendicular to the direction of propagation. Refer
difference between TEM and Quasi TEM wave. This interview question is very important to
judge microstrip line fundamental of interviewee.
Question -8: What is the difference between harmonics and spurious? When these signals are
generated in RF circuit?
Answer -8: Harmonic and spurious frequencies are generated when RF mixer and amplifier
devices are operating in nonlinear region due to distortion. Integer multiple of input frequency is
referred as spurious. Non integer multiple of input frequency is referred as spurious. Refer
spurious versus harmonics page.
Question -9: What is image frequency rejection in RF transceiver? What is the difference
between homodyne and heterodyne architecture in RF Receiver?
Answer -9: The pair of frequencies which produce the same output at the output of the RF
receiver are referred as images of each other. For example in C-band satellite receiver, 3700MHz
and 5785 MHz produce the same 70MHz as output. Hence here 5785MHz is the image
frequency for 3700MHz and vice versa, Refer RF measurements tutorial to know more about this
and other RF measurements. Homodyne and heterodyne are the two main architectures used in
RF receiver. Refer heterodyne receiver vs homodyne receiver to find the difference between
them.
Question -10: What is the relation between dBm, dBW and Watt?
Answer -10: All these are units of power measurement , dBm refers to decibel related to 1
milliwatt, dBW refers to decibel related to 1 watt, Refer difference between dBm and dBW.
RF FAQs
List of 25 to 26 RF Questionnaire,
Refer RF FAQs-Frequently Asked Questions Set.
Academic-RF FAQ section (RF Interview Questions and

Answers)
This page covers very useful RF FAQs for those appearing for interview. These are useful as
viva questions. Also refer RF Interview Questions and Answers.
Following is a list of RF FAQs based on rf design, rf development and rf testing areas:
1. If the frequency were 12GHz, what would be the wavelength?

a) 25mm b) 2.5mm c) 0.25 mm d) 250mm
2. Explain S parameters.
3. What is 1dB compression point of an amplifier?
4. What is 3rd order intercept point of an amplifier?
5. What is the typical thumb rule between P1dB and TOI point?
6. Write Noise figure equation.
7. What is the input and output back-off of an amplifier?
8. What is the noise floor?
9. For a given permittivity of 4 and permeability of 2, what is the wave impedance?

a) 266.5 b) 533.0 c) 377.0 d) 133.2
10. What is the VSWR and Return loss equation?
11. Explain the difference between Duplexer and Diplexer?
12. Which TEM mode is supported in Micro-strip line?
13. What is the noise temperature of the LNA?
14. Where is the LNA typically placed in wireless receiver and why?
15. A 1km long microwave link uses two antennas each having 30dB gain. If the power
transmitted by one antenna is 1w at 3GHz the power received by the other antenna isv a) 98.6 m
watts b) 63.4 m watts c) 76.8 m watts d) 55.2 m watts
16. A rectangular air filled wave-guide has cross section of 4cm x 10 cm. The minimum
frequency which can propagate in the wave-guide is
a) 1.5 GHz b) 2 GHz c) 2.5 GHz d) 3.5 GHz
17. What is the frequency range if the antenna is operating at Ku-band?

a) 4-8GHz b) 8-12GHz c) 12-18GHz d) 18-27GHz
18. What is the typical range of near field region?
19. The far-field region is commonly taken to exist at (D is the maximum overall dimension of
the source)
a) Distances greater than 2D2/ from the source
b) Distances lesser than /4 from the source
c) Distances greater than /4 from the source
d) Distances lesser than 2D2/ from the source
20. If source impedance is 50 Ohms and the load impedance is 100 Ohms, what will be the line
impedance of the Quarter Wave Transformer? a) 14.14 Ohms b) 50 Ohms c) 1.414 Ohms d) 70.7
Ohms
21. Zigbee network is mainly used for

a) Signaling and Monitoring
b) High Speed Data Transfer
c) Voice Transfer
d) Video Transmission
22. Which type of transmission line will have maximum value of characteristic impedance
a) Open Wire line
b) Coaxial Cable
c) Twin lead line
d) None
23. Describe circular polarization.

The signal travels both vertically and horizontally.
20. What is the filters function?
>To filter out all the unwanted radio signals.
21. What filter types are there?

>Low-pass (all frequencies below are allowed to pass in), high-pass, bandpass (all frequencies of
a given bandwidth are allowed) and band-reject.
22. What are saw filters used for?

>Very low frequency filtering.
23. What are mixers used for?

>To change the frequency of the signal.
24. What's a super-heterodyne receiver?

> It's a receiver that uses two mixers in a row.
25. Describe VCO.

>Voltage-controlled oscillators change the frequency of the produced sine wave depending on
the voltage they receive.
26. What do you mean by EIRP?

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10 RF interview questions and answers

Question -5: What is G/T of the antenna?

Question -6: Explain difference between RF circulator and isolator.

Academic-RF FAQ section (RF Interview Questions and

Following is a list of RF FAQs based on rf design, rf development and rf testing areas:

1. If the frequency were 12GHz, what would be the wavelength?

3. What is 1dB compression point of an amplifier?

4. What is 3rd order intercept point of an amplifier?

7. What is the input and output back-off of an amplifier?

8. What is the noise floor?

9. For a given permittivity of 4 and permeability of 2, what is the wave impedance?

10. What is the VSWR and Return loss equation?

11. Explain the difference between Duplexer and Diplexer?

12. Which TEM mode is supported in Micro-strip line?

13. What is the noise temperature of the LNA?

17. What is the frequency range if the antenna is operating at Ku-band?

18. What is the typical range of near field region?

21. Zigbee network is mainly used for

23. Describe circular polarization.

20. What is the filters function?

>To filter out all the unwanted radio signals.

21. What filter types are there?

22. What are saw filters used for?

23. What are mixers used for?

24. What's a super-heterodyne receiver?

25. Describe VCO.

26. What do you mean by EIRP?

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